Information and Reflections for the FBC Family

TXT: Why do so many elevate God’s love over His justice?

Question: Why does the Church (universal) spend so much time trying to convince the world that God’s such a loving God and spend so little time warning them of the coming judgment?

Answer: When I was a brand spanking new baby Christian, I remember a wonderful old saint told me something about the gospel I never forgot. He said Peter ” it’s the bad news that makes the good news good”. That “bad news” is the inescapable truth that every human born into this world is a sinner by nature and a sinner by choice (Rom 3:10-12). Every person has failed to obey God’s perfect moral law and incurred an unpayable sin debt against Him. Everyone who has ever been born (except Jesus Christ) sits under an eternal death sentence justly imposed by Him (Rom 3:23).

So one could see why many would like to emphasize God’s love over His justice. However that is not an accurate way to describe the one true and living God. When we declare who God is and how He interacts with us it is incorrect to emphasize one of God’s attributes over any other. God is perfect,complete and unified in every facet of His nature and character. To neglect His holiness, righteousness and justice is to misrepresent the God of the Bible.

Every attribute of God contains all the other attributes in complete harmony! Listen to how God describes Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7:

“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

God’s love includes His justice (look at the cross!) and God’s justice includes His love (read Rev 6:9-11). While the thought of eternal punishment in hell is horrific beyond imagination, to neglect to share this is not only unbiblical but obscures the very nature and character of God. It dilutes the truth about God and our need for His forgiveness and perfect righteousness credited to our account through Christ (Rom 6:23).

God himself has declared “it’s the bad news that makes the good news good! (Rom 3:23; 2 Pet 3:18)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to eveyone who believes,to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom.1:16)

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Peter is an executive with CFA, a national healthcare consulting firm, and invests all his off-work time into his church and his family. He is faithful to invest his life into men and loves to see people transformed by God's Word.

3 Comments

Hi I really like this blog, I have been following it but never write. I guess I’m a bit “slow.” lol I understand what this means but still confused.

When I became a believer I was immediatly told of my sin, and my need to repent. (which I did) When I attend church with relatives, I never hear them talk about repentance, JUST God’s love. Is this what you are referring to? THANKS!!

Hi Nancy, thanks for the feedback & encouragement.
I’ll fill in for Peter since he hasn’t replied yet…

I think that what you described is exactly what the original question-er was asking. ‘Why do some churches overly focus on God’s love?’

As Peter describes above, it is imbalanced to do so and distorts the gospel. God’s love can only be understood in the context of His justice and wrath against sin. When churches attempt to be ‘loving’ and neglect this truth, then the beautiful realities of God’s mercy, Christ’s atonement and the grace of the Gospel are all veiled.